Royal remembrance

Regal The Queen ’ s passing and the forthcoming coronation of the new King shines a light on the role of merchandise in celebrating royalty REMEMBRANCE

In September, we mourned the passing of Queen Elizabeth II after her epic reign as our longest serving monarch. For most of us the only monarch we ’ ve known in our lifetimes, she was celebrated as so many members of the Royal family through souvenirs and memorabilia, marking the many milestones in her reign with permanence.

BOOK OF CONDOLENCES

As the death of the Queen was announced just before Merchandise World this September, we were in the privileged position of being able to host a Book of Condolences for the Queen. Donated by Juniper, this beautiful book has been travelling with the BPMA, collecting additional signatures and will be archived to mark the end of this era.

FAMOUS IMAGE

Hailed as the most famous woman in the world, her face and cypher has graced our world for a very long time. She has had a reign marked by a staggering array of merchandise over her lifetime. From weddings to coronations to jubilees, there are very few households who won ’t have a mug, tea towel or some form of royal memorabilia and whether you were a Queen, Charles, Diana or William fan, we have loved our Royal family through merchandise for many years.

Writing on behalf of the BPMA for this article, it was appropriate to mark the occasion of her passing and welcoming our new King, Charles III by reflecting on the role the promotional merchandise industry has played in marking so many special Royal occasions.

WHAT MAKES THE MEMORABILIA SO SPECIAL?

Reflecting on my own personal experiences of merchandise, I realised I have a lot of examples at home. I’ m lucky enough to live just a mile or so from Windsor and visiting the castle has been a family tradition over the years. Recently, my mother

’ s house has been sold and we ’ ve been collecting all the precious china together to keep those special pieces that mean so much to our family. In one cupboard was a collection of coronation cups and mugs for King George and Queen Elizabeth. In perfect condition, one mug had my mother ’ s name on the base as she used it at every street party, jubilee and royal celebration to drink her tea from since Queen Elizabeth’ s coronation. Sharing this find with a few friends, we found we had mothers who did the same as coronation mugs were given to many children on the event of the Queen ’ s coronation in 1953 and they were considered very special gifts to be treasured and kept.

Marking these occasions has been a tradition going back to Victorian times and if you ever watch Antiques Roadshow, you ’ll often see Royal memorabilia coming to the show as we find surviving examples of mass-produced gifts presented on the show in pristine condition. It reminded me of just how much of a place the monarchy has in our lives, whether we are monarchists or not.

OFFICIAL MERCHANDISE IS TREASURED

With a Royal contribution tag of £1.8bn to the UK economy in the last detailed reports in 2017 with £550m coming from tourism alone, go into any London or Royal linked attraction and there is merchandise everywhere. Whether you wanted a tea towel with Elizabeth’ s face or perhaps one of our King-in-waiting, you ’ll be just as likely to pick up a Royal corgi plush with a lovely collar with its name on (hint; it’ s the Queen ’ s corgis Muick and Lissy in furry form), merchandise linked to the Royal household comes in every possible form and is very sought after.

ROYAL APPROVAL

As you can expect, the rules around use of the Crown cyphers and images of the Royal family are pretty closely guarded. This year, the Queen ’ s Platinum Jubilee released guidelines for the widespread use of the logo. A generous act, the guidelines around the use of the simple and elegant logo were clear, with the Lord Chamberlain ’ s office on hand to give some advice. We spent quite a bit of time this summer advising members on logo use with some timely reminders on what you should and shouldn ’t do plus reminders about good taste.

The Committee of Advertising Practice regularly issues guidance and advice around Royal events; weddings and births in particular. The rules are quite tricky but the best rule of thumb is to remember members of the Royal Family should not normally be shown or mentioned in a marketing communication without their prior permission but an incidental reference unconnected with the advertised product, or a reference to material such as a book, article or film about a member of the Royal Family, may be acceptable. If you want to read up on this, it’ s covered in CAP Rule 6.2.

You are far more likely to get into Royal hot water if you claim endorsement or a relationship with the Royal family. Those ‘By appointment’ seals are very hard to come by for a reason.

Not all the new guidelines are out yet for the impending coronation, but you can be certain there will be very clear guidelines for this national event. Keep an eye on royal.uk and asa.org.uk for the latest updates and the BPMA will also be updating the industry when the guidelines are issued.

A NEW KING, CORONATION AND MERCHANDISE?

The new cypher for Charles Rex was released on 27 September and as we await plans for the King ’ s Coronation on 6 May 2023, we can expect a ‘ slimmed down ’ affair according to comments from the Palace. Whatever the style of occasion, there will be a celebration, the bonus of some bank holidays and the request for merchandise for the events.

BPMA member Nick Humphrey-Smith of Ancestors has been producing merchandise for this market, supplying the likes of palaces and major tourist attractions such as St George ’ s Chapel (Windsor Castle) for many years, alongside a myriad of beautifully crafted keepsakes. During a discussion at Merchandise World, Nick revealed one of the most popular items produced were replica favourite earrings belonging to the Queen, her ‘button ’ earrings which were a gift from Queen Mary which she wore often. We quizzed Nick on what he was expecting to see.

“Traditional is always sought after and you may be surprised items such as commemorative spoons are so popular of the late Queen and of course now the King. Spoons are one of the collectable items which are accessible to most as they are a lower price point. The Queen was really adored so it’ s no surprise we are seeing thousands of items like this being produced and we think we will see this continue for a long time to come. Just think of the sheer numbers who watched the funeral. We all want a little piece,” he said. Thinking about the kind of things we might see being popular, Nick reminded us that of course replica crowns are really popular with some pieces in excess of £100 to just a few pounds. Understanding that the Queen ’ s jewellery will now be worn by the Queen Consort and the new Princess of Wales, he expects to see a surge in popularity of some of the pieces we are already very familiar with.

When discussing the impending coronation, Nick made some very interesting observations on how Charles looks like he ’ s playing this. “King Charles is of course very environmentally conscious; we can expect to see a heavy steer to sustainability for the event and supporting British companies. We are waiting for the date, the longer the announcement is left, the less likely it will be that Far East companies will be able to supply for the event in 2023. This is good news for companies like mine and those in the Briman group, ” he added.

He also had some words of wisdom for the industry as we prepare for orders for the coronation. “Do your own artwork or buy images you can use rather than wait for the official as this may come out later than usual for an event this large, take care in using Royal emblems and make friends with the Lord Chamberlain. And if you are expecting the need for lots of blanks to brand – keep a decent stock. ”

It' s anticipated that the death of the Queen and a new King will drive not only tourism, hospitality and events, but it will be good for the nation. After all, the Queen ’ s coronation in 1953 happened in a post war period, in great austerity and uplifted the nation.

However you marked the sad passing of our Queen, we know her image will live on in merchandise for many more years to come. And as we suspect King Charles may have a simpler approach during his reign and as most of us are likely to see at least two monarchs in our lifetime, we can be certain merchandise will continue to play a role long into the future.

Written by Carey Trevill, CEO on behalf of the British Promotional Merchandise Association.